Telerik Releases DevCraft Q2 2013

Telerik has released an update to its DevCraft tools bundle. The additions to the DevCraft Q2 2013 release improve the tools's "touch-friendly controls, data synchronization and cloud mobile back-end services," according to a Telerik press release. The Windows Phone and Windows 8 DevCraft controls have also been enhanced, and additional Visual Studio productivity tools have been added to the bundle.

"With the Q2 2013 release, we're continuing our tradition of cutting-edge innovation by bringing together the core elements necessary for mobile success -- touch, cloud-enablement and more -- to streamline the development process and provide value-add to our customers," said Chris Sells, VP of the Telerik DevTools division, in the press release.

New touch controls in DevCraft allow developers to touch-enable applications and "modernize existing apps," said Phil Japikse, Telerik evangelism lead for DevTools, in an interview. Touch controls for Windows 8, Windows Forms, AJAX, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight have all been updated. A revamped WPF/Silverlight sample app "shows developers how to add advanced support for touch into [their] own apps," according to the press release. And the RadControls for Silverlight tools bundle has been optimized for touch, so developers can "drag-and-drop with touch and take advantage of gestures across all controls," according to the Telerik Web site.

Enterprise-focused improvements include changes in the JustCode tool that allow developers to debug decompiled source code from within Visual Studio. This control will help developers be more productive, noted Japikse, because it can be used "in situations where there's no access to the source code" -- a common situation for developers working with legacy enterprise code. The DevCraft Q2 2013 release also introduces TypeScript support for RadControls for Windows 8 HTML, as well as new Windows 8 samples libraries -- which Telerik calls QuickStart Frameworks -- that are free to download from the Windows Store.

Other additions to the Q2 2013 release of DevCraft focus on data synchronization and "occasionally connected" devices, which Japikse classified as mobile devices such as phones and tablets that may not always have access to Wi-Fi. CloudDataSync provides "offline support, allowing [developers] to build apps that are functional in both offline and online mode," the Telerik Web site notes. "The feature lets you store cloud objects locally and makes sure that both cloud and local storages are in sync."

With this release, Telerik aims to "help developers deliver more than expected," Japikse said. The DevCraft Q2 2013 controls and samples libraries provide a framework for developers to build upon, he added: "We do the plumbing so you can enjoy the hot and cold running water."

About the Author

Katrina Carrasco is the associate group managing editor for the 1105 Enterprise Computing Group. She can be reached at kcarrasco@1105media.com.